Windows 10: "Cannot eject disk" error

Long story short.

I connected a external harddrive with its own power source, because it's a large 3.5 inch drive to my computer or laptop's USB port.

I copied some files and now I want to eject it, but Windows says "problem ejecting USB drive" and claiming that "the device is currently in use. please close any program ...."

That drive was set to have "better performance" rather than "quick removal", and also I enabled caching and stopped Windows from flushing the buffer because I know it is externally powered, and the power adapter will only let it spin down if it idle for more than three minute.

So what I usually do and success, to some extent, on smaller, non-external powered externals is to go to diskmgmt.msc, and set the disk as "offline". This make all of the handles toward all partitions on that disk invalid, and thus there will be no possible read/write and I can "safely remove hardware and eject media".

Not this case. Offline the disk doesn't work, either.

I had to brutally unplug it which is OK for me because I had already offline the disk 10 minute before I unplug it, and about 5 minute AFTER it spin down. As much as I am ok with the idea, I think it means that there is something wrong with my system -- my other laptops almost never display this type of ... issue.

:)

 

An error occurred while ejecting 'Removeable Disk (E)'

I have an HP Pavilion dv7 and my optical disk (DVD drive) will no longer eject when I select the 'eject' function from the pop-up menu. When I select 'eject', I get the error message listed in the subject line. I've uninstalled the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
and the DVD device itself - shut down the PC and then rebooted. I still get the same error message. The optical drive is model hp DVDWBD TS-LB23L. When I do Properties on the drive, it states the drive is working properly. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

An error occured while ejecting

Hi Johnny,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community forum.



I suggest you to follow the steps listed in
problem ejecting USB mass storage device and check if it works.



Note: The article holds good for Windows 10.



Hope it helps.

 

disk eject

Hi Linda,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

The eject option is still available in Windows 10. Are you referring to DVD drive or USB drive?

I suggest you to run hardware troubleshooter and check if it helps.

• Type Troubleshooting in the search box and hit enter.
• Click on Troubleshooting tab.
• Click on view all option on the upper left corner.
  
• Select the Hardware and Device options from the list.
  

Get back with updated status. We’ll be glad to assist you.

Thank you.